Mapping Airport 5.0: A Conceptual Digital Maturity Model and the Application to Australian Airports

Digital transformation has become one of the key drivers of airport sustainability development; however, existing digital maturity frameworks are not fully tailored to the aviation context, particularly within Australia. This study built a conceptual digital maturity model for Australian airports by integrating ISO/IEC maturity framework with the Airport 1.0–5.0 concept. A structured literature review informed the dimension formulation, and the model was validated through case studies of Australia’s Big 4 airports and one regional airport. The findings show that the Big 4 airports have largely achieved Airport 4.0 maturity, while Cairns Airport demonstrates maturity between Airport 2.5 and 3.0. These results confirm the model’s applicability and discriminative capability across diverse operational scales. The proposed model offers a practical, context-specific framework for benchmarking, planning, and guiding digital transformation initiatives across Australian airports.